“Jesus, Buddha, spaghetti monster, help me!!!!!” 

I screamed my lungs out. My throat was parched with dryness, the sweat was like a waterfall. My eyes got blinded by the water dripping out. I have never ran this fast in my life, I’m not going to end up this guy’s dinner! I ran for ten minutes, just 10 more minutes and I will be home. Why the hell did I choose independence! Aunty save me damn it. 

I looked back at the man, he was still running after me. 

‘ Who is this man!’ 

“ I’m a servant of god!” 

I heard a deep voice respond, I looked back and it clearly came from the pink man, he waved his hands at me. 

‘Wait….. did he just respond to me’ 

  

“Yes, I did, please stop! I don’t think I can keep up!” 

 

The Devil!! What else could he be, some of my friends told me that Evil comes in many forms to tempt victims. 

 

“As if, you ugly ass!!!”. 

Insulting spirits, I have really lost it. 

 

“You will pay for your sins!! 

The now angry pink man had steam coming out of his ears, he immediately sped 

after with all his might. 

Then suddenly I heard a whistle in the air, and lightning struck the ground in front of me. 

 

Lightning. 

 

In Summer, of all times of the year! 

 

What the hell. 

I flew in the air and got thrown into the nearby lake. 

It pulls me in, like a weight pressing down. 

The water is so heavy. 

 

As I opened my eyes and looked at the scenery of dark and blue. 

 

The bright lights above me swooned and then slowly darkened, indicating sunset is over. 

I began to think. 

Think about how my life, 11 years long. 

The air is getting thinner, water suffocates me slowly. 

Dad and Mom. 

Such quiet people. 

One is a tanner and the other a mail person. 

I remember their hard work and endurance. 

  

Poverty isn't a good place. 

The water fills my lungs. 

 

‘My dad told me “You have to live!”, my mom screamed out “You fool”, when they pushed me out the building when it exploded, I smashed a taxi on my way down, right’. 

  

Aunty and uncle. 

‘I refuse to pay you back, old man’. 

I smiled. 

Maybe life is short, maybe it's just perspective. 

I feel my mind breaking apart. 

‘The oxygen is cut, right’. 

".......".

...

...

Time to die. 

This reality. 

I accept it. 

“So that’s your resolve, how peculiar”. 

A voice rang out, my mind awakens from the incoming death. 

Where the hell did the voice come from! 

“Is that everything right? Your parents save your ungrateful self and now you accept death. How foolish of you, your family are the important people in your life because they make the biggest impact upon either good or bad. And the many other people that cross your path also make their impact. This reality might seem mundane to someone who isn't living like yourself, right?”. 

“I live every day; this is just fate isn’t it”. 

“You're just a child, yet you accept reality as if you're at the end of your life. A person should keep fighting till the end of their day, no matter what!!!”. 

The voice screamed out with fury, the water around me shook and my mind began to piece itself together. 

 “Did your parents die for nothing, did those hospital staff waste their time fighting for you every single day, didn’t your neighbors visit and pray for you! In this world, you should live and not give up, this life is not a battle you admit defeat, it’s a journey that you should care for”. 

“Death is an iron rule, everything will return to nothingness, this existence would rip apart in the void”. 

“Do you accept it, everything was for naught, and your family will disappear, maybe that aunt and uncle will die too, do you accept that and what about your cousins, what about that old man who died for you!!”. 

That’s life, right? 

Things are out of our control. 

You can’t control everything, it’s a waste of time and power. 

I just. 

I just want peace. 

Let me, disappear. 

‘Old man, I’m sorry you died for noth……………”. 

I couldn’t finish that thought. 

No, I can. 

I can’t. 

That old man helped me, for the longest. When my parents died, he was always there. He helped me, so much wisdom and skills came from him. 

He always said I was the strongest person he had ever seen. 

He said my mind is like steel and body like a rock. 

He said that to me, a glasses-wearing kid. 

He said that to me, a small kid who didn’t cry at the funeral. 

He said that to me, a kid with alabaster skin and night colored hair. 

He said that to me, a kid who gives up. 

I’m sorry, uncle. 

 I don’t...... 

 

‘No, I don’t accept it!’. 

  

Something woke up inside of me, I forced my mind to strengthen. 

 

“ I want to live!” 

 I force those words out with all my strength. 

 I will live to the very end! 

“Then live hard and strong, Ravi, live with all your might!”. 

…. 

. 

. 

. 

My eyes fluttered open; it met the dark twinkling sky. My mind began to piece 

together my situation. 

Didn’t I drown! 

The shock woke me up and I sprung up into my feet, but then an arm threw me back to the ground. While I busily massaging my chest, I peered to my right and I saw a fat pink stomach. 

“Oh my god!! Here's my money, please don’t hurt me”. 

As I furiously went through my pocket, I came up with a single two-rupee coin. Oh come on!!....please don’t kill me! 

“I’m not here to kill you!”. 

“How do I know!”. 

“I just saved you”. 

I looked around, I was right next to the lake. 

The man had set up a fireplace that brought out a bunch of light, he was cooking something, isn’t that some fish from the supermarket................  It is!!!!...... Mr. Tripura Spermarket!!! 

  

‘What the hell, that’s not how you cook!! It will take 30 minutes and you need to do a whole process, this pink fatso was an idiot of the highest order, do you want to die!’. 

“ How long has it been since you just started cooking”. 

“ About 10 minutes”. 

“ You idiot!”. 

“Excuse me, you rude child!”.

“Says the guy trying to kidnap me”. 

“I wasn’t trying to kidnap; damn kids really are rude these days! Listen up I needed to talk to you and then you started running” 

“Any normal person would have started running away........the minute they see you, they are chasing the sunset!”. 

“Kid, just listen”. 

‘You know I haven’t gotten a good look at this guy, a sumo wrestler with giant muscles and a fat stomach.......honestly, I think this guy is obese, how the hell did he keep up with me?’. 

“Okay, I have been pretty gracious, but you have been insulting me for a while, haven’t you!” 

“Can you read minds?”.

“Yes, I can, it's pretty obvious” .

“Okay I’ll listen”. 

What the worst that could happen? 

“Good, GATE OPEN”. 

Hmmmmm? 

What........?

‘What the hell did this guy say…….!!!!”